VOL.93/2026.04

Which Foreign Books Did Korean Readers Choose in 2025?

 

 

2026.02

 

 

"Interest in Korean fiction" is an indispensable phrase when explaining recent publishing trends in Korea. Thanks to the halo effect of Han Kang's Nobel Prize in Literature win in 2024, Korean novels swept the top spots on the comprehensive bestseller lists last year. The slump in non-fiction books, driven by the commercialization of generative artificial intelligence (AI), also played a significant role. The prevailing view in the industry is that the surge in Korean fiction—and Korean literature at large—is a "butterfly effect" resulting from the contraction of the local non-fiction market, a sector traditionally dominated by renowned foreign authors rather than domestic ones. However, this situation may present a unique opportunity. With fewer foreign titles breaking through, it becomes relatively easier to trace the specific pathways through which they successfully reach Korean readers.How, then, did the select few foreign titles chosen by Korean readers manage to captivate them? And which foreign books are poised to claim the bestseller spots this year?

 

 

 

 

Last Year’s Foreign Book Report Card

 

The only foreign book that manged to squeeze into the top 10 on the 2025 annual comprehensive bestseller list at Kyobo Book Centre, Korea’s No. 1 bookstore, was Ryunosuke Koike’s Ultra-Translation: Words of the Buddha.

 

The dominance of Korean fiction is evident throughout the list.Half of the top 10 entries—five titles—were Korean novels. For the second consecutive year, Han Kang’s novel Human Acts claimed the number one spot on the comprehensive bestseller list. Rounding out the list were the autobiography of President Lee Jae-myung, who was elected following last year's impeachment proceedings and early presidential election, along with essay collections by Korean novelists.

 

 

 

 

Redefining the Bestseller Rankings

 

So, which foreign books managed to secure a spot in the upper ranks of sales, achieving a feat akin to threading a rope through a needle’s eye? The following table shows a recompiled ranking, derived by extracting only foreign books from the comprehensive bestseller list provided by Kyobo Book Centre.

 

Finding a common thread among these titles is no easy task. From Ultra-Translation: Words of the Buddha, a collection of Buddha's famous quotes reinterpreted for modern times, to John Williams' novel Stoner, and Dual Brain, a guide to survival in the AI era—it is difficult to find any consistency in terms of genre or publication date. For instance, Stoner, which ranked second, was originally published in the U.S. in 1965. The edition that climbed the charts this time is the Korean translation released in 2015. On the other hand, Ultra-Translation: Words of the Buddha and Dual Brain were released in 2024 and 2025, respectively. Meanwhile, the original source material for Übermensch (published in 2025) is Nietzsche's Human, All Too Human, a book dating back to 1787. Then again, Buddha predate them all.

 

 

 

 

Fandoms Create Bestsellers

 

The "invisible hand" organizing this seemingly disparate list of foreign bestsellers is none other than "fandoms". Ultra-Translation: Words of the Buddha went straight to the bestseller list after Jang Won-young, a member of the K-pop girl group IVE, mentioned it as the book she was currently reading during her appearance on the YouTube show "Dex’s Fridge Interview" in January 2025. According to Yes24, a leading online bookstore in Korea, sales of the book surged approximately 29-fold between January 15 and 29 compared to the previous month, following her mention. It was a prime case demonstrating the sheer "firepower" of IVE’s fandom.

 

 

For Stoner, recommendations from comedian Hong Jinkyung and film critic Lee Dong-jin served as a powerful boost. Lee Dong-jin, in particular, commands a loyal fandom through his podcast and YouTube activities. Consequently, it has become the norm for his monthly recommendations to shake up the bestseller lists. Indeed, the No. 1 bestseller on Yes24 for January 1st of this year was Suzuki Yui’s novel Goethe Said Everything, a book he recently recommended. Ranking third, Übermensch was released by a publisher where "Author Son Him-chan," who boasts 420,000 Instagram followers, served as an executive. It appears that followers, mobilized by aggressive social media marketing, purchased the book first, pushing it up the charts. This, in turn, seems to have piqued the curiosity of general readers, leading to further sales. Higashino Keigo's Masquerade Game (가공범) also drove sales through a combination of the author’s existing fandom and features on various "BookTube" channels. The same goes for Dual Brain. One online reader review for this book begins with: "Every YouTube channel I visited seemed to be talking about how his book was coming out in March...“ In an era of uncertainty, the growing demand for philosophy and the deep thirst to understand AI, combined with the rise of "BookTube" and short-form content, have effectively extended the lifespan of this fandom-drivenpurchasing trend.

 

 

Will Foreign Fiction Leap Forward This Year?

 

Everyone knows that the industry cannot rely solely on fandoms to produce and sell books. A book is, ultimately, a book. The destiny of this product—which must prove its value through its content—has led to a parade of "Big Shot" foreign novels being published this year. This is a direct response to Korean readers’ hearts turning toward literature last year. Korean bookstores are gearing up for major releases this year, including The Things That Leave Do Not Return, a novel declared to be “my last book“ byJulian Barnes, a master who has swept the world’s most prestigious literary awards. Also scheduled is the publication of works by Krasznahorkai László, last year’s Nobel laureate, which will be translated directly from the original language for the first time in Korea (previous editions were re-translations from English or German). The strong perfomance of Goethe Said Everything early in the year is a promising sign. The foreign book market faces two key questions this year: Can foreign fiction captivate Korean readers? And how will non-fiction survive in the era of AI?

 

 

 

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Written by Eunseo Koo (Culture Department Reporter at The Korea Economic Daily)

As a reporter for the Culture Department’s Publishing Team, she covers domestic and international publishing trend and curate book recommendations for readers. She is the author of Classics with Reason, a book that explores the enduring appeal of literary works that have withstood the test of time.